India: Manufacturers in West Bengal lift Met Coke Prices upto INR 500/MT; Imports Cheaper

Met coke producers operating Coke oven batteries in West Bengal have increased prices in the range of INR 200-500/MT.

Durgapur Projects, under the administrative control of Government of West Bengal, has increased prices by INR 500/MT and scrapped the discount structure of INR 300/MT. Prices are being quoted at INR 13,800/MT ex-works Kharagpur.

It is operating a single Coke oven battery and produces 300 tonnes of Met coke per day. The company also supplies Coke to SAIL on conversion basis.

Couple of other state based merchant cokeries with an installed capacity of 0.7 MnT pa are offering their product in the price range of INR 13,700-14,000/MT ex works Haldia.

Why have the Cokeries increased Prices?

1. Boost in demand from state based blast furnaces as well as those located in states such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. To add, few of the cokeries are non operational presently.

2. One of the Haldia based Cokery which partially supplies Met coke to domestic blast furnaces, apart from in house consumption, is reliant on other cokeries to match its requirement as of now.

3. SAIL’s 0.1 MnT LAM Coke purchase tender, supply period of which is for 3 month’s ending Mar’15, has created shortfall in domestic market because cokeries have diverted their supply to the PSU and shall continue to do so in the near future, as RINL’s 90,000 MT LAM Coke procurement tender is to open on 11 Mar’15.

Domestic Met coke prices in West Bengal have strengthened at a time when global traders are offering CSR 64 Met coke at USD 187-188/MT (or USD 176-178/MT FOB China, with negotiation by up to USD 2-3/MT) and CSR 62 Met coke at USD 183-186/MT East Coast of India. Freight rate is USD 13/MT for standard size cargo of 30,000 MT.

Status of Met Coke Vessels at Indian Ports

Quantity in MT
Source: SteelMint Stats, Customs

Gujarat based Met coke importer is expecting vessel MV Star Danai carrying 49,500 MT Chinese Met coke to arrive on 22 Feb’15. The material was booked during the end of Dec’14 at around USD 200/MT CFR Hazira port.